| Updated: 8/13/2012 9:20 am |
Published: 8/10/2012 10:43 pm
|
There are still hundreds of people in Mannford and surrounding areas of Creek County who don’t know what their future holds after wildfires ravaged the area seven days ago.
At the home of Cindy and Joe Laws, the flames are gone, but the memories are still fresh.
“It feels like it was still yesterday,” Joe Laws said about the wildfires.
The Laws family lost almost everything in the Mannford fires, everything except their land
“I am not leaving this land. It may have taken the house and the trailer, but we still have the land. (We just have to) pitch up a tent,” Cindy told FOX23.
So week after the first spark, it’s a new kind of living for this family. They have several tents. There is a tent for Joe and Cindy, another for their son, and even one for going to the bathroom and a separate one for showering.
“Privacy, that’s probably the hardest right there. (I’d like to have) a little privacy to go to the bathroom and take a shower, but I don’t care. I really don’t care; I am staying right here,” Cindy said.
That’s alright with Cody, the Laws 16-year-old son.
“I love it out here. I wouldn’t leave either,” he said.
Joe says when Cindy said they were pitching tents, he didn’t say a peep.
“You got to make the wife happy; otherwise you ain’t going to be happy.”
Together, they’re writing new laws on their own land.
“I think it might have brought me and my family closer in all honesty. It’s somewhat of a vacation,” Cody said.
The family didn’t have insurance on their home, so they’re not sure what the next step will be. Whatever happens, they’ll have perspective.
Cody says he’s happy to not have to mow the lawn, but he might have to start again soon
“Grass is growing. Life goes on. It’s starting to get green again.”
